This invention pertains to single inlet evaporative coolers, particularly to the installation of single inlet cooler pads and maintaining the interior side walls of the wet section of said coolers.
Single inlet evaporative coolers are widely employed to cool buildings in areas of the country where the humidity is sufficiently low. These coolers must be cleaned periodically and the pad must be replaced.
Water held in a sheet metal reservoir of the wet section of such coolers is pumped to the top of a porous single pad through which air is drawn and cooled by evaporation. Water not evaporated drains back to the reservoir. A float-activated valve maintains the water level. Styrofoam spacers are commonly used between the pad and interior side wall contact points as a means to wedge the pad tightly into position. Contaminates that lodge in between said spacers and the interior metal side wall of said wet section at said contact points eventually permeate into the plating or galvanizing of the metal and corrosion results. Numerous other disadvantages exist with this installation protocol.
The major disadvantage with the Styrofoam spacer being wedged tightly against the wet section interior side wall is that water leaches in between said spacer and said side wall and reaches areas where there is no access for free oxygen. Anaerobic corrosion results. This form of corrosion actually accelerates the oxidation rate of the sheet metal side wall.
Heretofore, the interior side walls would be dried, scrapped or brushed, and debris removed. Special attention would be given to badly corroded spots and leaks would be repaired. Once said side wall is properly prepared, it would then be treated to stop the rust and repainted. In extreme cases it may not be possible to repair said leaks. This is a time-consuming, dirty task. Such treatments generally require considerable drying time before the cooler can be re-assembled and placed into service. Two pieces of prior art have been found to be directed to this problem.
ESSICKAIR of Little Rock, Ark. places a non-metallic moisture shield inside the wet section of its single inlet cooler. It is a flat piece of plastic which is positioned between the single inlet pad and the interior side wall of the cooler's wet section. This moisture shield, while removable, is presented as an integral part of the cooler. Its most serious failing is that, as with the Styrofoam spacer, it rests directly on the metal interior side wall of the wet section cabinet and creates the means for moisture from internal sweating to be captured in an area where no free oxygen molecules are present. When the Styrofoam spacers are wedged in with the pad, the moisture shield is pressed even more firmly against the interior side wall removing any possibility for oxygen to enter. Again, anaerobic corrosion is promoted rather than discouraged. This moisture shield fits only the ESSICKAIR single inlet cooler and does not address coolers distributed by other manufacturers.
Phoenix Manufacturing Inc. of Phoenix, Ariz. manufactures a single inlet cooler which claims a plastic liner as an integral feature of its single inlet cooler. Attention has been given in this application not to allow this plastic liner to rest directly against the interior side wall of the wet section. The disadvantage to this design is that provision is made only for casual evaporation of moisture. While some oxygen can reach areas behind this moisture shield, no provision is made to introduce oxygen. The design constricts the flow of free oxygen molecules across the interior side wall of the wet section. As with the art cited above, this feature is presented as part of the cooler and does not apply to other manufacturer's models, including older models of the same manufacturer.
No patents are found to be directed to this issue.